Tuesday, October 9, 2012

A Very Vintage Halloween is Around the Corner

Disclaimer: These are only my own thoughts and opinions. I am perplexed as usual that Halloween is just around the bend. Thanksgiving, Christmas all but fleeting moments away. As I passed by the aisles of ornaments, lights and wreaths during a shopping outing I came to the conclusion that marked seasons hardly serve a purpose anymore. Are we all so busy preparing for the next holiday that we don't enjoy the present? I digress...So in preparation for Halloween here are some very vintage facts about the holiday......

10 Spooktacular Facts About Halloween Days of Old

1. Lit up turnips were said to help ward off evil spirits. (Apparently garlic isn't enough) Pumpkins being more plentiful took the place of the turnips.

2. Apple bobbing is called dooking in Scotland. (Isn't that a Green Day album?)

3. People once believed that witches were able to turn themselves into cats to avoid detection. (Explains why I'm not a huge fan of cats.)

4. Not until the 1950s did Halloween become family friendly. (My favorite era.)

5. Halloween originated in Ireland. (As all good things do!)

6. The first city wide Halloween celebration in the United States occurred in Anoka, Minnesota.

7.Trick or treating derived from the poor begging for food. (I knew it!)

8. In Ireland , fairies were among the creatures who roamed on Halloween. (So that explains why there are fairies in True Blood.)

9. An old Halloween superstition says that if you hold a mirror on Halloween and walk backwards down the stairs to the basement, the face that appears in the mirror will be your next lover. (I know you are thinking about trying this.)

10. In ancient times bonfires were lit to honor the dead. (I thought they were lit to honor the beer.)